Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Worthy of Song

Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish
military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks
on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was
the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Provided desks, e-mail accounts
and top-level security clearances in Kabul, they pored through
classified intelligence reports, participated in senior-level strategy
sessions and probed the assessments of field officers in order to advise
Petraeus about how to fight the war differently.

Their compensation from the U.S. government for their efforts,
which often involved 18-hour workdays, seven days a week and dangerous
battlefield visits?